Chapter 7: Sorcerer Characteristic, Aptitude, and Disability
"Let's see what your aptitude is really like."
"Yes, Master."
Li Guanqi got up, walked over, and sat down beside the table. He gnced at the old bck-robed dwarf standing on the tabletop, hesitated, but ultimately didn't ask.
He wanted to ask the man's name.
But on second thought, he shouldn't ask.
This supernatural world was strange; there was no background introduction, just straight into the "game plot" at the start. He didn't know his character's backstory at all.
He also didn't know if he should know the old dwarf's name.
What if he was supposed to know, but he asked anyway? Wouldn't that be asking for death?
To be safe, it was better to remain silent.
"Right, disciple, what is your surname and given name?"
Just then, the old bck-robed dwarf, fiddling with the dark red blood-testing stone in his hand, asked Li Guanqi.
Ah... so that's how it is.
Li Guanqi understood.
So it was somewhat simir to the model of games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where you go through a bit of game plot first, and then an NPC asks your name, thus starting the "character creation."
From beginning to end, Li Guanqi forced himself to treat this supernatural world as a game.
Because for a young man of eighteen like him, doing so could effectively alleviate his negative emotions of nervousness and fear.
Only by calming down could he ensure he made no mistakes.
"Replying to Master, your disciple is called Li Guanqi."
"Guanqi? 'Watching chess without speaking makes a true gentleman'... Good name. Mm, your Master's surname is Wei, given name Mo, courtesy name Danqing."
"Disciple will remember."
Li Guanqi lowered his head.
"Yes, it's the Wei you're thinking of."
The old bck-robed dwarf, or rather Wei Mo, nodded.
?!
Li Guanqi's heart skipped a beat.
But I wasn't thinking of anything...
Wei Mo tilted his head back, looking towards the hole in the roof, seemingly gazing through the gap in the wooden pnks at the blue sky and the free world outside.
A hint of confusion appeared on his aged face.
"Just as you thought, I was born into the Daluo Dynasty, into the Wei family, one of the Eight State Pilrs and also one of the Eight State Surnames.
I am the eldest legitimate son of the current Wei State Pilr. Before the age of five, my status was revered, and I lived without worry.
Until I turned five, when the imperial physician confirmed definitively that I had dwarfism.
The Wei family, being one of the Eight State Surnames, its members carry the glorious divine blood in their veins. The appearance of a dwarf, a deformed child, was an insult to the Wei family's bloodline, a stain on the Daluo State Surname.
Heh.
From then on, I was hidden away by the family, confined to a remote small courtyard, never seeing my parents again. Only one servant attended to me, and I suffered endless scorn and bullying from that person.
Until my twelfth birthday.
Because it was my birthday, I was allowed, under the condition of covering my face, to be taken by the servant for a stroll on the street. This was the only day in the year I could leave the small courtyard.
And it was precisely that day.
I accidentally overheard from passersby's chatter that I, Wei Mo, Wei Danqing, the eldest legitimate son of the Wei State Pilr, according to the Wei family's official story, had died prematurely at the age of five. Heh… hehehe…
After returning that day, I cried for a long time, cried until midnight. I picked up a kitchen knife, held it to my neck, wanting to personally end this deformed life of mine.
But just then.
A one-armed, blind old man appeared.
He handed a stone to me, which was... this."
Wei Mo slowly passed the dark red blood-testing stone in his hand to Li Guanqi.
Blood-testing stone?
Li Guanqi gnced at the dark red stone in Wei Mo's hand, then looked up at him with a solemn expression.
Wei Mo the dwarf.
The one-armed, blind old man.
Both were disabled.
He vaguely sensed that the group known as sorcerers seemed even more special than he had imagined...
"Remember the sorcerer characteristic."
Wei Mo's face was expressionless, his voice hoarse: "The so-called sorcerer characteristic is, 'What Heaven does not grant, it must bestow elsewhere.'
Whatever Heaven has taken from you, it will surely compensate you in another aspect.
In other words, in ninety-nine percent of cases, the more severe a person's congenital disability, the better their sorcerer aptitude."
Li Guanqi was taken aback.
What Heaven does not grant, it must bestow elsewhere...
But Heaven had always been kind to him.
A happy family, a tall frame of 1.98 meters, a healthy body, top-tier speed and jumping ability, a brain that should be reasonably bright, and looks that weren't overly handsome but were at least sunny.
Heaven had given him everything.
"Your physical condition is very good."
Wei Mo looked at Li Guanqi's tall physique, a hint of hidden envy in his cloudy eyes. "As an ordinary person, even joining the army, you could have a good future.
But in the world of sorcery, Master can only say... the sorcerer characteristic indeed applies to ninety-nine percent of sorcerers.
But don't be discouraged. Perhaps you are the exception, possessing both a good body and decent sorcerer aptitude.
Come.
Test."
The bck-robed old man pulled Li Guanqi's right hand over. A faint dark green light emerged from his two fingers pressed together, and he made a light cut across Li Guanqi's palm.
Bright red blood seeped out, dripping onto the blood-testing stone.
"Buzz—"
The dark red blood-testing stone immediately lit up.
"Oh?"
A faint, calm smile appeared on Wei Mo's face. "Acceptable. Disciple, perhaps you really are outside the ninety-nine percent..."
"Buzz—"
The blood-testing stone continued to glow brighter and brighter, until it resembled a light bulb emitting red light, the blood-red glow illuminating the entire wooden house!
Wei Mo was utterly shocked beyond words.
"Such high aptitude?!"
"Boom!"
The blood-testing stone suddenly exploded, countless tiny fragments scattering everywhere, startling Li Guanqi into quickly retreating.
But Wei Mo seemed stunned, completely ignoring the fragments scratching bloody marks on his face, just staring bnkly at the tabletop.
After the blood-testing stone exploded, a small pool of red blood appeared floating in mid-air where the stone had been – the blood Li Guanqi had dripped earlier.
And at this moment.
This pool of red blood actually slowly turned from red to purple, until finally, it completely transformed into purple blood.
"..."
Wei Mo watched this scene, murmuring to himself, his expression extremely complex, filled with shock, nostalgia, anger, regret, contemption, conflict, and coldness all at once.
His murmuring voice was very low, but Li Guanqi still managed to hear it clearly.
—Child of Tongyou.
Tongyou!
Tongyou?!
Li Guanqi's expression changed slightly.
The [Communicate with the Netherworld (Purple)] talent he obtained from the simutor actually existed in the supernatural world, and it even came with the title "Child of Tongyou."
"Disciple, your aptitude is good, very good."
Wei Mo grabbed the pool of purple blood with his left hand and retracted it into his sleeve.
Then he reached out his right hand, gently ruffled Li Guanqi's head, his smile incredibly kind, just like a friendly neighborhood grandpa.
"Master has changed his mind. Your aptitude is simply too good. Merely teaching you through words and example would be a waste of your aptitude. Anyway, Master's lifespan is almost at its end..."
"How about this."
Wei Mo, with a gentle smile, spoke softly to Li Guanqi: "Master won't worry about living another year or half-year. I will infuse my entire life's cultivation into curse insects, and then slowly feed them to you over the next two months."
"This means that in less than two months, you will be able to obtain the cultivation that Master painstakingly accumuted over eighty years."
